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Tuesday, 21 July 2015

The First Victoria Cross Winner 1854

Ever since the Crimean War (1854-56) the Victoria Cross has
been the highest award for British service personnel for gallantry in the face
of the enemy. It takes precedence in
order of wear over all other British orders, decorations, and medals, including
the Order of the Garter. Instituted by Queen
Victoria in 1856 it was revolutionary at the time of introduction in that award
made no distinction between officers and enlisted men. Of some 1358 awarded since then, only fifteen have
been won since the end of WW2. The medal is of bronze taken from Russian cannon
captured at Sevastopol and these cannon themselves may have been of Chinese
origin.

Departure of the Baltic Expedition from Spithead 1854

Though the first Victoria Cross was won in the Crimean War
the heroism that won it took place not in the Crimea but in the Baltic. Britain
and France entered the war against Russia in March 1854. In parallel with efforts
to invade the Crimea measures were also put in hand to send a vast British
fleet to the Baltic to neutralise fortifications protecting the approaches to
St. Petersburg and seal it off. The execution left much to be desired however. “A finer fleet never sailed or steam from
Spithead than that destined for the Baltic in 1854” according to the future
Hobart Pasha (Click here for moredetails). Referring however to the overall commander, Sir Charles Napier,
known as ’Fighting Old Charley, Hobart went on to write that “it was not long before we discovered that
there was not much fight left in him.”

The initial British objective was the incomplete Russian
fortress of Bomarsund in the Åland Islands. This was vulnerable to land-attack since the designers
had assumed that the narrow channels near the fortress would not be passable
for the large ships needed to land troops. This assumption was valid for sailing
vessels but it took no account of the fact that steam ships could manoeuvre
with greater ease and thus bring weakly defended sections of the fortress. One
gets the impression that the focus on Bomarsund was due to its accessibility rather
to any significant strategic importance and Hobart, in his memoirs, hints that dissatisfaction
with the decision was widespread. He wrote: “if ever open mutiny was displayed –
not by the crews of the ships, but by many of the captains, men who had
attained the highest rank in their profession – it was during the cruise in the
Baltic in 1854.”

Bombarding Bomarsund

On 21st June 1854, three British ships, Hecla, Odin and Valorous, came close
enough to begin bombardment. Russian fortress-artillery replied and the action lasted
most of the following night. At its height a live shell, its fuse hissing,
crashed on to one the deck of the Hecla,
a wooden paddle-sloop. Given that this vessel was wholly unarmoured, it seems
an act of the grossest folly to have exposed ever her in this way. Only seconds remained before the shell would
explode and orders were shouted for everybody to thrown themselves flat. On deck however was the twenty-year old Midshipman
Charles Davis Lucas (1834 - 1914), who had already served seven years, a period
that included the Second Burmese War . Rather than throw himself down Lucas grabbed
the shell, dashed to the side and threw it overboard. It exploded on hitting
the water. No further damage was done, nor were any of the crew wounded. The
indecisive action was broken off shortly afterwards to wait until British and
French reinforcements would arrive.

Contemporary illustration - Lucas throwing the shell overboard

Lucas in 1857

Lucas’s action had saved the Hecla, but given the reward structure in place at the time the only
recognition possible was for her captain, W.H. Hall, to promote him to the rank
of Acting Lieutenant. The Crimean War
was the first to be covered extensively by the newspapers and Lucas’s
behaviour, together with other individual acts of bravery, was widely reported.
The outcome was a motion in Parliament "that
an Order of Merit to persons serving in the army or navy for distinguished and
prominent personal gallantry to which every grade should be admissible"
should be created.

Though Lucas
was the first winner, he was not however the first to receive his medal in the
inaugural award ceremony in June 1857. This was held in London’s Hyde Park and it
was estimated that over 100,000 people came to watch. Queen Victoria pinned the
crosses on the recipients in strict order of Service precedence and seniority. Lucas
was therefore fourth in line, following three more senior recipients, the first
being Commander Henry Raby. Lucas may however have been lucky to miss the first
slot – the Queen conducted the tricky operation of pinning on the medal
from horseback. In the process , and by accident, she plunged the double-pronged
pin for holding the medal into Raby’s chest. This was presumably a minor
inconvenience compared with the dangers he had been exposed to while winning
the medal!

Lucas went on to have a distinguished naval career, promoting
to captain in 1862 and retiring in 1873, making rear-admiral on the retired
list in 1885. It is pleasing to note that he married the daughter of Captain
Hall of the Hecla. He was to live on
until 1914, another of those naval officers who joined a service still
commanded by veterans of the age of Nelson, but who themselves lived to see technological
innovations of the early 20th Century such as turbines, radio,
aircraft and submarines which were to change the nature of sea warfare.

Technology changes but human nature doesn’t. The Victoria
Cross remains today, as it did in 1854, the recognition of human courage at its
most sublime.

About Me

My "Dawlish Chronicles" are set in the late 19th Century and reflect my deep interest in the politics, attitudes and technology of the period. The fifth novel in the series, “Britannia’s Amazon” is now available in both paperback and Kindle formats. It follows the four earlier Dawlish Chronicles, "Britannia's Wolf", "Britannia's Reach”, "Britannia's Shark" and "Britannia's Spartan". Click on the book covers below to learn more or to purchase.
I’ve had an adventurous career in the international energy industry and am proud of having worked in every continent except Antarctica. History is a driving passion in my life and I have travelled widely to visit sites of historical significance, many insights gained in this way being reflected in my writing. I welcome contact on Facebook and via this Blog. My website is www.dawlishchronicles.com and its “Conflict” section has a large number of articles on topics from the mid-18th Century to the early 20th Century.